Quote from: elmore3003 on October 29, 2022, 04:20:06 AMDR JohnG, I wish Frank Capra had toned Cary Grant down a bit for at least the first half of Arsenic and Old Lace. He's working way too hard. I really do like the rest of the cast enormously. While I wish Boris Karloff had recreated Jonathan Brewater, Raymond Massey, another actor I love, is really frightening. He and Peter Lorre play well off each other. The three Broadway stars of the play, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and John Alexander, are relegated to second-class in the billing, but they're so wonderful in their insane gentility. Some of the Epstein brothers' screenplay seems a bit condescending and arch, but some additions, like Edward Everett Horton's director of the Happy Dasle sanatorium, are very funny. The movie, unlike the play, makes an effort to remove the premise a bit from reality, while the play just accepts an eccentric family, like the one in You Can't Take It With You, as demented serial killers everyone in the neighborhood accepts a sweet but eccentric. Thus, it's set on Halloween night - great opening credits with jack-o-lanterens and cats - and Capra really gets much out of the scarier moments. The blasck and white transfer is really beautiful. The real problem is Cary Grant, an actor who rarely does wrong.I enjoy the play more than the movie. I played Jonathan Brewster (not Brewater) a few times.
DR JohnG, I wish Frank Capra had toned Cary Grant down a bit for at least the first half of Arsenic and Old Lace. He's working way too hard. I really do like the rest of the cast enormously. While I wish Boris Karloff had recreated Jonathan Brewater, Raymond Massey, another actor I love, is really frightening. He and Peter Lorre play well off each other. The three Broadway stars of the play, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and John Alexander, are relegated to second-class in the billing, but they're so wonderful in their insane gentility. Some of the Epstein brothers' screenplay seems a bit condescending and arch, but some additions, like Edward Everett Horton's director of the Happy Dasle sanatorium, are very funny. The movie, unlike the play, makes an effort to remove the premise a bit from reality, while the play just accepts an eccentric family, like the one in You Can't Take It With You, as demented serial killers everyone in the neighborhood accepts a sweet but eccentric. Thus, it's set on Halloween night - great opening credits with jack-o-lanterens and cats - and Capra really gets much out of the scarier moments. The blasck and white transfer is really beautiful. The real problem is Cary Grant, an actor who rarely does wrong.
His first time !!
(In the US)
Has everyone here been in a production of "Arsenic and Old Lace"?How about "Our Town"?
Quote from: Ron Pulliam on October 29, 2022, 07:25:42 PMHas everyone here been in a production of "Arsenic and Old Lace"?How about "Our Town"?I haven't...for either show. And I've only seen a local production of Arsenic and Old Lace. I've never seen Our Town.
Everyone had a good time at Trunk or Treat tonight. Lots of people I didn't know, which is the point of the whole thing.
